The woman with the name to beat them all - Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands - went into the Olympic final as the fastest woman in the world this year and confirmed her ranking with a convincing victory in the pressure of a Games final.

The 21-year-old covered the first 50m in 27.24 before hitting the wall in an Olympic record of 53.00 to land her country's second gold in the event in the last four Games.

"I thought it was a great race, but it wasn't my PB (personal best), it wasn't my best time," Kromowidjojo said.

She had posted a best time of 52.75 in Eindhoven last April in the leadup to London.

"I am not really satisfied with the time, but a gold medal is a gold medal and now I am an Olympic champion," Kromowidjojo said.

Double Olympic champion in fact, as she was a member of the Dutch team that won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay in Beijing.

Kromowidjojo, whose father is from Surinam and paternal grandparents from Indonesia, now joins a long list of Dutch Olympic swimming stars, including Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn, who was the last Dutchwoman to win the Olympic 100m freestyle title, in Sydney in 2000.

"It is a great feeling and a great honour, we have a history of sprinters and now I am the next Dutch girl to get a medal and I am really happy," Kromowidjojo.

She said she'd felt considerable pressure going into the race, but managed to stay calm and make good on her consistency from thiy year. "Now I have to focus on the 50m and be back here tomorrow (Friday) morning, you can't do that race on reserves, so I really need to go hard again."

Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus claimed the silver medal from lane 1 in 53.38sec with China's Tang Yi getting the bronze in 53.44.

1. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) 53.00

2. Aliaksandra Herasimiena (BLR) 53.38

3. Tang Yi (CHN) 53.44

Australia got locked out of the medals again as Mel Schlanger managed 4th in 53.47 - Missy Franklin (USA) - coming off the 200 backstroke semi - was no match this time and finished 5th in 53.84.